The Spanish Civil War was one of the pivotal events of the 1930’s, the moment when fascism and socialism came into open conflict. First published in 1939, The Spanish Tragedy recounts the experiences of Jef Last. Activist, poet and novelist, Last might have been the archetypal Republican volunteer…

1918-1922

The rise of Italian fascism is often seen as a pre-condition, as well as a precursor of, later developments in Europe most notably in Germany. As such they were also much discussed in the English speaking world throughout the 1930’s. First published in English in 1938 this book gives an account of…

The extent to which the Nazi regime was truly representative of the German people was a key issue for external commentators. First published in 1940, The German People versus Hitler sets out to prove that the identification of ‘Germany and the Third Reich, Germanism and Nazism, the German people…

Faced with a political movement that was effectively unparalleled many observers found it extremely difficult to work out exactly what kind of regime they were dealing with: whose interests did it serve? First published in 1934, The Nazi Dictatorship argues both that the Nazi regime represented a…

Or Education for World Conquest

Higher Education in Nazi Germany was first published in 1944, when it was apparent that Germany was likely to lose the war. Developing themes that were to become commonplace in the analysis of totalitarian regimes, it provides an account of how higher education became a means of both installing and…

A plea for Anglo-German friendship

Not all of the responses to fascism in the English speaking world were hostile. With the aim of providing a representative sample, Routledge here re-issues Norman Hillson’s I Speak of Germany. First published in 1937, this is an account of the author’s travels in Germany, and is largely sympathetic…

The influence of Nazism on German culture was a key concern for many Anglo-American writers, who struggled to reconcile the many contributions of Germany to European civilization, with the barbarity of the new regime.
In German Literature Through Nazi Eyes, H.G. Atkins gives an account of how the…

First published in 1947, Straight On is a first-hand account of the authors’ work with the Red Cross in central and eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War, including their work providing medical care to survivors at Auschwitz and Belsen.…

Observations and Adventures of an Anti-Fascist

Emilio Lussu was an Italian MP and Professor of Political Economy, who was imprisoned because of his opposition to Mussolini. In 1929 he escaped with two fellow prisoners from the island of Lipari. Enter Mussolini combines an account of Mussolini’s rise to power and a critique of the Italian…

The rise of fascism in Europe ultimately plunged the world into war and brought about the horrors of the holocaust, yet these outcomes were far from apparent to many observers in the 1930’s. This collection of contemporary and near contemporary works represents some of the diversity of response as…